Julia Bethea

Julia Bethea (née Stephens) (25 July 1907 – 17 October 2017) was an American supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She was one of the oldest known living people in Alabama, USA.

Biography

Julia Bethea was born Julia Stephens on 25 July 1907 in Coy, Alabama, USA, as the youngest of seven children born to parents Abram and Mary L. Stephens. By 1920, she was living with her older sister Bessie Lester.

On 6 May 1927, Julia married Claude Bethea Jr. in Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA, and had four children with him: Jewellette, Eleanor, Melvin, and Claudette. She became an Adventist at the age of 53, her children and grandchildren also becoming Adventists. One of Julia’s grandsons is Curtis Eakins, health and ministries director for the South Central Conference.

After her husband’s death and her children had moved away, Julia moved to Toney, Alabama. At the age of 93, she became a vegan. She drove until she was 100, which was also when she went on an aeroplane for the first time. She enjoyed cooking, even at the age of 103, when she got her own computer and learned how to look up recipes on it.

When Bethea was 103, she cooked her own meals and did regular gardening work. She still lived independently at the age of 107. In 2014, also aged 107, she would go to the gym for bi-weekly workouts with her then-84-year-old daughter Eleanor Eakins. She was confirmed alive at 110 by her grandson Curtis Eakins.

Julia Bethea died in Toney, Alabama, USA, on 17 October 2017 at the age of 110 years, 84 days.